PM BUZZ

WIRE REPORTS

Published 4:00 am, Friday, October 24, 1997

In the wake of Dolph Camilli's death this week, Gene Moyers, 75, of Palo Alto remembered that Camilli's brother, Frankie Campbell - using his professional ring name - was killed in a heavyweight boxing match with Max Baer at Recreation Park on Aug. 25, 1930. The death, and another the same week, led to a grand jury investigation of local boxing.

Francisco Camilli was reportedly hit two dozen times while splayed on the ropes in the fifth round of the bout, going into a coma from which he never recovered. He died the next day of a cerebral hemorrhage at St. Joseph's Hospital with his wife and brother, who was playing first base for Sacramento of the Pacific Coast League, by his bedside. Baer was arraigned on charges of manslaughter but was not indicted. He immediately set up another fight, saying, "Why should I go back to the pick and shovel, just when I'm going good?"

Investigating the death of Campbell and Johnny Anderson, a boxer killed that same week in a bout at National Hall, the county grand jury slammed the Bay Area boxing commissioner as "unfit to hold his position." It also said Campbell-Baer referee Toby Irwin was guilty of

"carelessness and inefficiency," and concluded, "The professional boxing "racket' is not cleanly conducted." Jury foreman John P. Murphy said, "The whole business smells to high heaven," and The Examiner agreed, using headlines during the investigation such as "Jury Will Sift Ring Butchery" and "Men Who Abet Murder in Ring Must Be Disciplined."

GET REAL, TIGER: Golfer Tiger Woods is a - - - - - -front-runner for the Smirnoff Get Real Award, given to America's most pretentious athlete. The award, won last year by Dennis Rodman, may go to the 21-year-old Woods for signing a $13-million deal with American Express while owning part of All-Star Cafe in New York, which doesn't take American Express.

The award winner will be announced in December, and other nominees include boxer Riddick Bowe for his fiasco with the Marines, the NBA's Kevin Garnett for laughing at a $100 million contract, the NHL's Mark Messier for dumping the Rangers to get $20 million from Vancouver, and on general principals, the 76ers' Allen Iverson, the Jets' Keyshawn Johnson, Celtics coach Rick Pitino, boxer Mike Tyson, Dallas coach Barry Switzer and Yankees owner George Steinbrenner. The public can vote for the most pretentious of the bunch through Smirnoff's website at www.smirnoff.com.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Friday marks the 60th birthday of former Giants ace Juan Marichal, who pitched a one-hitter in his rookie debut in 1960 and went on to compile a 238-140 record with the Giants, 5-2 with Boston and the Dodgers. He ended his 16-year career with a lifetime ERA of 2.89 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1983.

SUBLIME TO RIDICULOUS: From Marichal we turn to the Giants' Ron Bryant, who went from a 24-12 record and 3.54 ERA in 1973 to 3-15 and 5.60 in 1974, earning him special recognition from James and Alan Kaufman in their book,

"The Worst Baseball Pitchers of All Time." The other San Francisco Giants pitcher listed in the book is Mark Davis, who was 5-17 - - - - - -with a 5.35 ERA in 1984, 5-12 and 5-7 the next two years, before winning the Cy Young with 44 saves for the Padres in 1989. The Kaufmans, who assume Davis sold his soul to the devil for his '89 season, list his 1984 performance as the 16th-worst turned in by a pitcher in this century.

OOPS: A correction, from the Oakland Tribune - "Due to an error at the source, the value of UCLA basketball coach Steve Lavin's five-year contract was incorrectly reported as $23 million . . . Actually, Lavin signed a five-year, $2.3-million contract." &lt;